Back in April I posted four level 1 Necromancer spells from Diablo II ported over for classic Dungeons & Dragons or Labyrinth Lord. I recommend that a character wanting to become a necromancer has to sacrifice other spells to get these. The rule I use in classic D&D and Labyrinth Lord (12 spells per spell level for magic-users) is that for every 2 spells they swap in from the Necromancer Spell List (or any specialist spell list), they have to swap out 3 spells from the normal magic-user spell list. If they only want to swap in a single spell, they have to swap out two spells.

Level 1 Spells

Dim VisionRange: 120′
Duration: 10 minutes

If the target of this spell fails his save versus magic, he loses the ability to see anything beyond five feet – even using infravision and similar visual abilities. He can still engage in melee and so on, but missile combat is out of the question.

Level 2 Spells

Corpse Explosion
Range: 120′
Duration: Instantaneous

This spell must target a dead body, slain in the past hour. The corpse is destroyed by this spell in a fiery explosion dealing 1d6 damage per 2 HD of the corpse, to a maximum of 5D6 damage. The explosion from this spell is a 10′ radius.

All within the radius except the caster who fail their save versus spells suffers a -2 penalty on all damage rolls for the duration of the spell. Damage cannot be reduced below 0 in this manner.

Level 3 Spells

Iron Maiden
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 turn

If the victim of this spell fails to save versus spells, he receives 1 point of damage for every 2 damage he deals through any direct method (melee or missile attacks, spells or spell-like effects, breath weapons, and so on). This effect can be ended prematurely through a remove curse spell, but not a dispel magic.

Terror
Range: 60′ cone (60′ wide at the end)
Duration: 2 turns

This spell is identical to the reverse of remove fear, except that it can affect multiple targets within the cone of effect.

Gotcha. Though now I’m thinking it WOULD be cool to have a fear effect you could slam down behind you and run away, and people would have to save to pass it, and it lasts for two turns while your bony knees scurry off!

Can you please explain how a mage has to ‘sacrifice other spells’ to get these? In my games, magic users simply copy spells into their spellbook and they remain available to be memorized at will. Or do you refer to memorizing?

I’m referring to the actual spell lists for the class. In Labyrinth Lord and B/X D&D there are only 12 spells at each caster level for a magic user. If you want to add two of these spells to a character’s spell list, you in turn have to remove three of the spells normally available.

This makes specialists more restricted in their spell selections than generalist magic users.